Vocational Education Department of Career Development and Pre-Entry Preparatory Training Department of Advanced Training of Teachers Leadership Since 1996, the Rector of the university is the Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Council of Rectors of St. Petersburg (2004), vice-president of the Russian Union of Rectors (2006), corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Education, corresponding member Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Vasilyev. Research and partnerships ITMO University collaborates on research and innovations projects with several large Russian companies, including LOMO, D.I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology (VNIIM), Techpribor, Elektropribor, etc. The university signed an agreement to create the Northwestern Center for Technology Transfer to become one of 12 nano-centers around Russia. Originally it was supposed to be in the town of Gatchina. In 2015 it was opened in St. Petersburg on Malookhtenskii Prospect. Another joint project with Rusnano is “Innograd of Science and Technologies.” It was expected to open by 2019 in the satellite city Yuzhni. Rusnano was investing 690 million rubles in its equipment. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2015 in the town of Pushkin, near St. Petersburg. In 2012, a “Skolkovo” communications center was supposed to open on the campus of the former Institute of Refrigeration and Biotechnologies of ITMO, but the plans were altered. That same year the university signed a memorandum with RSV Venture Partners Foundation to establish a $6 million fund for IT startups. In 2013, Internet Initiatives Development Fund offered ITMO University to collaborate in opening regional accelerators to support commercially promising internet startups. University's list of international partners over the years includes General Motors Corp., PPG, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Nokia and others. Students and staff members of over 80 departments participate in research. Many of them are working in “small innovative enterprises,” or startups, located at ITMO Technopark on Birzhevaya Liniya, offering access to high-tech equipment. As part of the Project 5–100, Technopark opened a coworking space called FabLab in 2015, which also offered facilities and resources, including a 3D printer, a laser engraver, a milling machine, etc. The equipment is offered free of charge to the ITMO University specialists and students. National Research University Program In 2009, the university was granted the status of National Research University. It implies carrying out research in areas considered key to the development of Russia's economy, including IT, photonics, optoinformatics, and urban science. International research centers As part